Gov. Bryant: Water release easing pressure on Miss. dam

Aug. 31, 2012

Loading Photo Galleries ...

Written by

The Associated Press

The dam at Percy Quin State Park in Pike County. / US Army/Special to The Clarion-Ledger

More

ADVERTISEMENT

MCCOMB, MISS. — Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said Friday the controlled release of water from a lake swollen with rain from Isaac will continue to help ease the pressure behind a dam about 15 miles north of Louisiana.

Bryant said he and local officials have decided to continue with the release of water from Lake Tangipahoa. The earthen dam ó a 2,300-foot levee on which a two-lane roadway runs ó has not been breached.

On Thursday, authorities began repairing two 70-foot-wide areas where mud and grass slid off after two days of Isaac's hammering rain. The work continued Friday.

Dusty Myers, dam safety engineer for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, said workers are digging a drainage ditch about one-eighth of a mile west of one slide to direct the water to open fields. It will be 500 to 600 feet long, 200 feet wide and 30 feet deep. At a news conference Friday in Jackson, Myers said crews were hoping to finish the ditch by Saturday or Sunday, but that depends partly on weather.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said lake water levels continued to drop Friday. The lake stood at 332.7 feet on Friday, having fallen 2.4 feet from Thursday.

Officials were placing boulders on the dam and using bulldozers and trackhoes.

Bryant said he had spoken to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal about the dam. Precautions are being taken to protect residents downstream from the 700-acre lake and near the Tangipahoa River should the dam fail.

(Page 2 of 2)

"I know in 1945, we had failure there at that dam.... It was a fairly strong impact in Louisiana, in Tangipahoa Parish. And again in 1984, I think, there were some concerns," Bryant said Friday in Jackson. "So it was natural for the governor (Jindal) to be concerned about the possibility of a 700-acre lake spilling into the Tangipahoa River, which was at flood levels at that time. I think he made the absolute right decision in evacuating citizens from that area. That's exactly what I would've done under those conditions."

About 20 nearby homeowners in Mississippi were strongly advised to leave until the controlled breach was completed sometime Sunday. Pike County officials said some residents did leave their homes.

Ramie Ford, director of Mississippi state parks, said the plan was to slowly let about 8 feet of water out of a lake that is 3 to 4 feet higher than normal, reducing stress on the levee.

"The water flow will be controlled by us and not Mother Nature. So no one should be in harm's way," Ford said.

Preliminary models indicated that a successful controlled release would not significantly affect water levels in Louisiana, Jindal said. Even so, he and Tangipahoa Parish President Gordon Burgess strongly encouraged Louisiana residents near the structure to heed warnings to evacuate. They ordered the immediate evacuation of Kentwood, a town of about 2,200, after flying over the parish.

People in other areas along the river, from Kentwood south to Robert, were asked to voluntarily leave because of uncertainties about the dam. The evacuation order did not include the parish's major city, Hammond, which has about 20,000 people and is home to Southeastern Louisiana University.